


More than just words

by TetrodotoxinB



Series: Bad Things Bingo 2018 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Begging, Burns, Electrical torture (sort of), Hurt/Comfort, Square Filled: Forced to Beg, Torture, Whump, descriptions of burns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-19 00:02:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15497814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TetrodotoxinB/pseuds/TetrodotoxinB
Summary: Ultron wants Steve to beg and he's willing to do what it takes to get the good Captain to behave.





	More than just words

**Author's Note:**

> Created for Bad Things Happen Bingo
> 
> Square filled: Forced to beg

“You heard me, beg for her.”

Steve knew when they were beat and it wasn’t yet, but even so he needed to buy some time. Reinforcements were coming, but they might be too late if he didn’t draw this out. 

“Please, don’t hurt her,” he said. It wasn’t exactly pleading but at least he managed not to make it sound like an order.

Ultron laughed, metallic and grating. “You call that ‘begging?’ You’re going to have to do better than that.”

Nat’s screaming tore through the damp basement air as Ultron turned some yellow glowing prod against her. It sizzled and Steve could smell the ozone of spent oxygen as the device burnt the atmosphere around them and Nat with it. Her leather and kevlar suit smoldered as Ultron continued to torture her.

“Tell me what you want!” Steve roared. 

“That’s not begging,” sing-songed Ultron.

The whine of the device pitched up and Nat’s voice cracked. Steve jerked against the bots that held him but their many mechanical hands gripped hard and he stayed kneeling on the concrete floor. 

Any reservations Steve had held about begging flew out the window. The smell of burning body armor turned to burning flesh and Steve didn’t think Nat would make it until help arrived if he didn’t give in. 

“Please, please, I’ll do what you want. Stop, please. You’re hurting her.”

The crackling sound stopped and Ultron turned back to Steve. “Good. You’re learning. You can be the first — the perfect man leading humanity to me. You can tell them what their disobedience will bring and then you can tell them of my mercy. You, Captain, will be at the forefront of my vanguard, my flag-bearer unto all of humanity.”

Steve’s earpiece crackled to life and Tony counted down the seconds to infiltration. 

With his head hanging low, Steve spoke quietly. “I’ve done that before, selling war,” he explained. Then he looked up, and his voice was crisp with anger. “And I’ll be damned if I do it again.”

The wall behind him exploded in and he ducked his head to avoid as much of the debris as possible. An instant later, the bots holding him were blown away from him from two well-aimed repulsor blasts, and then he was up and running towards Nat. Where bots grabbed for him he dodged, for once not remotely interested in engaging in a well-deserved fight.

Steve tore apart the manacles that held Nat with his hands, but she stayed disconcertingly limp and still against the hard wood of the table. 

“Nat, Nat come on. Hey, he’s gone. I got you,” Steve pleaded. 

She blinked lethargically. “Hey, soldier,” she rasped.

Steve smiled grimly down at her as he scooped her up from the table. He tried to be mindful of her side where her suit was flaking and charred, blood slowly oozing from the red and black flesh that peered out from underneath.

“Sam’s in the jet setting up the medbay. Let’s get you back there and go home,” Steve said softly.

She nodded weakly and he clutched her to his chest while the others finished dismantling the remaining Ultrons. Nat was silent until they were clear of the building and listening ears. 

“You put on a good show in there.”

“Just because I can act doesn’t mean I had to,” he admits, and then he carefully readjusts her in his arms. If draws her tighter against him in the process, well he can chalk that up to the rough terrain and definitely not a sudden overabundance of concern for her well-being.


End file.
